Forever and Always: Parabatai
by VoicesOffCamera
Summary: [Clockwork Princess Spoilers] "He played the too few times he had seen them since he had joined the Brotherhood… the time when Will had been bitten by a Shax demon and nearly died, and Jem had come from the Silent City and sat with him all night, risking discovery and punishment." (One Shot)


"_He played the too few times he had seen them since he had joined the Brotherhood… the time when Will had been bitten by a Shax demon and nearly died, and Jem had come from the Silent City and sat with him all night, risking discovery and punishment."_

* * *

**Forever and Always: Parabatai**

It was a quiet night. Theresa Herondale – formerly Theresa Grey until about a year before – found that to be annoying. She would have preferred some excitement around the London Institute to provide her with some kind of distraction from her worry. She sat in the library and had tried over and over to read several different books, but just couldn't bring herself to concentrate. Her gaze kept on wandering to the window where just outside a storm was brewing. Rain pattered steadily against the glass and every so often a flash of lightning would cross the sky, followed by a roll of thunder. It had been hours since Will had left with Gabriel, Gideon and Cecily. Tessa had wanted to go with them, but had stayed herself. Without thinking about it her hand strayed to rest of her stomach. She wouldn't be joining in on any Shadowhunter missions for quite some time.

Despite the storm Tessa was able to hear the creak of the gate in front of the Institute swing open. In an instant she was at the window and as she squinted through the rain she was able to see the carriage racing into the courtyard. It came to a stop at the foot of the stairs and Cyril jumped down and yanked the door of the carriage open. Tessa stayed long enough to do a head count. One… two… three… four figures emerged. She let out the breath she hadn't realized that she'd been holding as she turned from the window and hurried away.

By the time she was making her way down the stairs to the entryway Charlotte was already pulling the front doors open to let the Shadowhunters in. Even though Charlotte had been named Consul a year ago, she was still running the London Institute while she trained Will to be her replacement.

Cecily walked in first. Her gear was torn and she still held a dulled seraph blade loosely at her side, as if forgotten. Her eyes were frantic and her face was pale. For a moment Tessa worried that she might be hurt.

"Will," she gasped. "Will, he needs help!"

At this Tessa froze in place on the staircase, her hand gripping the railing hard in an attempt to stay upright. Cecily moved out of the way and Tessa could see Gabriel and Gideon trudging up the stairs. Will hung between them with an arm thrown over each of their shoulders. His head hung limply on his shoulders, his black hair a mess. At first Tessa couldn't fathom where his injury was. Then she spotted some dark fabric that was wrapped tightly around his midsection. She could just spot the place in the middle of the fabric that was darker than the rest as the blood soaked through. For a moment she felt like she couldn't breathe. _Will…_ she thought desperately.

Finally she remembered herself as she forced herself to hurry down the rest of the stairs to come to a stop beside Charlotte, who had gone pale at the sight of Will.

"What happened?" Tessa demanded.

"A Shax demon got a hold of him," Cecily said, her voice shaking ever so slightly. "Pierced him with its… with its pinchers."

"Get him up to the infirmary," Charlotte ordered quickly as Gideon and Gabriel dragged the unconscious Will inside.

"He's still bleeding, can't you give him an _iratze_?" Tessa asked frantically as she watched them go.

Sadly Cecily shook her head. "We tried, it won't help. The wound is… too severe." Tessa saw for the first time that Cecily was trembling. Will's sister had always been a tough Shadowhunter. She didn't scare easily. The weight of the situation suddenly hit Tessa hard.

"I'm going to summon the Silent Brothers," Charlotte said quickly.

"Jem," Tessa whispered, almost to himself. Then she looked at Charlotte and spoke louder. "Jem. You must tell them to send Jem."

Charlotte met her eyes and nodded solemnly before turning and hurrying away. Cecily seemed to sense Tessa's shock as she carefully took her sister-in-law's hand and led her along. Tessa hardly knew where they were going, but once they had arrived she realized that it had been obvious. They were in front of the infirmary. Cecily entered first, leaving Tessa to compose herself in the hallway. Tessa only hesitated for a moment, taking in a deep breath before walking into the room.

Will lay on one of the beds toward the middle of the room, the white sheets underneath him already stained with red. His eyes were still closed but his features were screwed up with pain and he was gasping in ragged breaths. Gideon was leaning over him and Gabriel was at the far end of the room rummaging through the medical supplies. Cecily went to Will's free side, looking down at him gravely.

"Charlotte went to summon the Silent Brothers," she informed the room in general.

"We need something to slow the bleeding or he isn't going to last until the Silent Brothers get here," Gideon said tensely. He had both of his hands on Will's stomach, putting pressure of the wound, blood creeping up between his fingers. Tessa felt sick and she leaned up against the doorframe for support.

"Tessa."

The word came out as a whisper but somehow the whole room seemed to have heard it. Everyone turned to look at Tessa who had straightened at the sound of her husband's voice. The sound seemed to have given her strength as she found the will to cross the room and fell to her knees at Will's bedside. His eyes were still closed as she reached a gentle hand to brush the hair away from his face.

"It's okay, Will," she soothed quietly. "I'm here. Everything is going to be okay."

Will made a pained coughing noise and to Tessa's horror she saw blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. Just that small thing scared her more than anything, reminding her of how Jem would cough up blood with his illness.

"It must have punctured one of his lungs," Gideon said gravely, observing the blood leaking from his mouth as well. He turned his head and shouted over his shoulder "Gabriel!"

"Here!" Gabriel said hurrying over with a small vial of liquid. "This should help him."

Tessa reached over and lifted Will's head so that Gabriel could tip the liquid into his mouth. Will choked on it and moaned in pain. Tessa stroked his cheek comfortingly while Cecily knelt beside her and gently took Will's hand. The room grew so silent that when the door opened up again they all gave a start.

Charlotte hurried into the infirmary and behind her Brother Enoch glided along, his hood dawned over his scarred face. Tessa gave a start as they approached.

"I thought you were going to call Jem," she said quietly, looking at Charlotte.

Of course, Brother Enoch heard her. _Brother Zachariah is in training and cannot be summoned at this time._ Despite the fact that the Silent Brothers rarely showed any emotion, Tessa could have sworn that the voice in her head had sounded just a bit annoyed. He glided up to the bed and angled his unseeing eyes down toward Will. _I will need everyone to leave the room._

There was no room for argument. Tessa rose to her feet and then reached down and helped Cecily up. Gabriel joined the two of them as they retreated to where Charlotte now stood in the doorway. Gideon was the last to leave, slowly taking his hands off of Will's wound. His hands were almost completely stained red with Will's blood. Tessa quickly adverted her eyes as she turned and hurried from the room.

The group left the room, closing the door firmly behind them. They were all quiet for a minute, none seeming to know what to say.

"I need to go check on Henry and the baby," Charlotte finally said quietly. Baby Charles wasn't even a year old yet and still needed a lot of care. Henry had taken over a lot of the responsibilities with their child, but Charlotte could become visibly antsy when separated from her child for too long. "I'll come back to check on Will in a little bit."

As she left Gideon sighed. He looked down at his hands. "I'm going to go clean up," he told them. "Then I'm going to check on Sophie." Sophie had been feeling under the weather all week and hadn't been with them on this mission. He glanced at the others, particularly Cecily and Tessa. "Will you be alright here?"

"I'll stay," Gabriel said gently. Under normal circumstances Tessa and Cecily – both very strong and independent women – would have verbally shunned the idea of needing to be babysat by a man. But tonight they were both silent.

Time dragged on as the three waited just outside the door to the infirmary. Cecily and Gabriel, still dressed in their torn gear, sat on the floor together with their backs against the wall across from the infirmary door. Gabriel had wound his arm around Cecily's shoulders at some point, trying to provide her with some sense of comfort. Tessa alternated between pacing up and down the hallway and standing and staring at the closed the infirmary door as if she could somehow see through the heavy wooden door through sheer force of will.

"Tessa, why don't you sit?" Cecily suggested lightly.

Tessa shook her head absently, still staring at the door in front of her. "No, I couldn't sit still."

"The Silent Brothers' healing can take time," Gabriel spoke up. "It could be hours before we're let back in to see him." There was a kindness in Gabriel's tone that had been unheard of when Tessa had first met him. During his time of dating Cecily he had become a much kinder man. And although he and Will would still butt heads, it was clear that they did care for each other.

Tessa fidgeted uncomfortably. Then she spun on her heels, putting her back to the door, unable to look at it any longer. "I wish they would have sent Jem," she said quietly. "He could have at least come with Brother Enoch."

"When someone becomes a Silent Brother, they are supposed to sever all of their human ties," Gabriel pointed out, though not unkindly. "They may not have wanted him to come just for that reason. They want him to sever all ties to his former life."

"I don't see how that is fair," Tessa fumed as she crossed her arms over her chest, acutely aware of how she sounded like a whiney child.

"It's not," Cecily agreed. "I would feel a lot better if Jem was in there with him." She shuttered at the thought of her brother and Gabriel gently pulled her in closer.

Gabriel had not been exaggerating when he said that the healing could take hours. It was getting late and they still hadn't heard anything from inside of that room. Tessa wanted to scream and pound on the door and demand to know what was going on. But she refrained.

"Have you heard anything?" They all turned to see Gideon coming back up the hallway. He had cleaned up and changed into clean clothes.

"Not yet," Gabriel answered flatly.

"How's Sophie feeling?" Tessa asked, just desperate for any change of subject.

"She's better," Gideon told her with a weak smile. "Just worried about Will."

"He's going to be fine," Tessa said firmly. Her eyes wandered back to the infirmary door. "He has to be."

Just at that moment the door opened and Tessa visibly jumped, not expecting that to happen. They all watched as Brother Enoch glided into the hallway. They waited quietly with bated breath to see what he would say.

_I have done all I can._ Brother Enoch finally stated evenly. _The rest is up to him. He should rest tonight. I will return in the morning. _And without any further explanation he glided down the hallway and disappeared into the shadows.

For several minutes everything was still. It was Cecily who moved first. Slowly she pulled herself to her feet and without hesitating walked back into the infirmary. Gabriel, as usual, was right on her heels. Tessa found that she could not move though. She looked up at Gideon and found his eyes to be sympathetic. He offered her his arm. She gave him a weak smile as she took it, feeling relieved for the support. They entered the infirmary together.

It was quiet in the room. Tessa immediately spotted Will laying in the same bed he had been when they had left. The covers had been pulled up over his waist and his shirt was gone. He had several white bandages circling his midsection. His skin was pale, so much so that the bandages almost blended right in. His breathing was labored and his muscles were tense but his eyes were still closed. Tessa couldn't quite tell if he was conscious or not. It was a disturbing sight.

The four all gathered around the bed in a silent vigil. Cecily sat on one side of the bed, holding onto Will hands with one hand and Gabriel's hand with the other. Tessa sat on the other side, reaching up to gently stroke Will's hair. Gideon sat beside her. There wasn't much anyone could say, so they just sat silently and watched, hoping to see some kind of improvement.

After an hour of watching Will, Gabriel finally convinced Cecily to leave the infirmary to clean up and get some rest. Tessa promised to send for her the moment there was any change in Will's condition. Gideon consented to stay with her.

Tessa had no idea what time it was, but suspected it was getting very late into the evening. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She was so close to nodding off right there in here chair that when the door opened and a figure entered she half expected that she was dreaming. The figure wore parchment robes with dark red runes, just like Brother Enoch had. But unlike Brother Enoch this figure had the hood thrown back. Tessa blinked away the blurry edges of her vision to focus on the familiar features.

"Jem!" she gasped.

Gideon, who had clearly been nodding off next to her, jerked up in surprise. As he looked over at the door he half rose up from his chair in surprise. "Jem," he echoed, shock and awe in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

But Tessa just smiled. She knew exactly what he was doing here.

"Brother Enoch said that Will's condition was bleak," Jem said evenly. His voice still had a detached quality to it, but Tessa could see that as he looked at Will his eyes softened ever so slightly. "He said that he might not recover."

Tessa inhaled in a soft gasp at this. She looked back down at Will. He had only seemed to have gotten worse over the past couple hours. His breathing was even more labored, taking on almost a wheezing quality and there was a sheen of sweat covering his skin which was hot to the touch.

"Does the Brotherhood know you're here?" Gideon asked slowly.

Jem moved forward, coming to a stop at Will's bedside. "No." The word came out with no hint of remorse in his tone. He was not concerned about the Brotherhood. He was only concerned about Will.

Gideon nodded knowingly and then stood. "I'll keep a look out. I'll try and warn you if Brother Enoch returns."

"Thank you, Gideon," Jem said sincerely.

As Gideon left the room Jem leaned over Will, studying him carefully. He reached out and carefully put a hand on his forehead. Then he reached down to Will's wrist, checking his pulse. After a moment he pulled a chair up and sat down. It was a startlingly human thing to do. At that moment Tessa could see no sign of a Silent Brother. Rather all she saw was James Carstairs, Will's _parabatai_. Finally he looked up and met Tessa's eyes for the first time. Tessa felt her heart flutter up into her throat.

"Tessa… are you okay?" Jem asked slowly.

Tessa took a deep breath. "It has been a trying night," she said, her voice coming out as little more than a whisper.

While keeping one hand on Will's arm Jem reached across the bed toward her. Tessa automatically reached to him, taking his hand as if no time at all had passed. His hand was cold and rough. "It's going to be okay, Tessa," he said softly. "William is a fighter. He will not leave you so easily."

Tessa smiled at him. "I am so glad you are here. It has been too long, Jem."

Jem gave her a shy smile. "Yes, it has."

They were both startled out of the moment by a low moan. Tessa looked down in surprise and saw Will shifting his head. "Will!"

Slowly Will's eyes blinked open. His features were screwed up in pain as his eyes wandered around the room, eventually coming to rest on Tessa. "Tess…" he breathed.

Tessa smiled down at him, utterly relieved finally see Will awake. "It's going to be okay, Will."

Will groaned lightly. "It twinges a bit."

"You need to rest, Will," Jem said gently.

Will's head slowly turned to look at Jem. His eyebrows came together in confusion. "Jem?" Jem smiled at him. "You look… terrible."

Jem chuckled lightly. "Thank you, Will. You are as charming as ever."

"I got a small scratch from a Shax demon," Will rasped. He shifted in bed and moaned in pain.

"I saw," Jem said as he reached up and put a gentle hand on Will's shoulder. "Which is why you need to lay still."

Tessa couldn't help but smile at the two of them. It was as if no time at all had passed. The three of them sitting in this room together just seemed so natural.

It wasn't long after that when Will's fever spiked and he fell unconscious again. Tessa and Jem took turns running cool cloths over his forehead, trying to keep his fever in check. Each hour passed even slower than the last and the tension rose as Will showed no sign of improvement. At one dark moment in the night Tessa imagined raising her expected baby by herself, and to her dismay she burst into tears. Jem was quick to come around the bed to comfort her. Tessa gladly accepted the gesture.

"Tessa." Tessa had been dozing off leaning on Jem's shoulder when his soft voice brought her back to consciousness. "His fever is breaking."

Tessa sat up and looked down at her husband. Jem was leaning over checking his temperature and pulse. As he had said it appeared Will's fever was breaking. He was no longer sweating and he was breathing easier, seeming really peacefully for the first time all night. Tessa reached out and placed a hand on his forehead to see for herself. He still felt a little clammy but he was no longer burning up. She let out a sigh of relief.

"He is going to be okay?" she asked.

"Yes, he is going to be okay," Jem assured her. He sighed lightly and spoke his next sentence reluctantly. "I should go… before Brother Enoch returns."

Tessa frowned. She had almost forgotten that Jem couldn't stay here with them. She had almost forgotten that just by being here with them Jem could be severely punished for disobeying the Brotherhood that he had pledged himself to.

"Oh," she said, unable to keep the disappointment out of her tone. She looked up at him as he stood. "When will we see you again?"

"You know the answer to that," Jem said flatly, not looking at her.

Tessa sighed. "Yes, I suppose so."

Jem turned to leave but suddenly Will's hand reached out and grabbed his wrist to stop him. They both looked over in surprise to see Will's blue eyes awake and aware as he looked up at them.

"Thank you, James," Will said sincerely. His voice was still a bit hoarse from the restless night. "Thank you for coming."

"Of course, brother," Jem said, cupping both of his hands around Will's and giving it a light squeeze. "Nothing could keep me away."

"Clearly," Will said with a tired smile. He gave his friend's hand a weak squeeze in return before he let go and allowed his hand to fall back to the bed.

Just at that moment the door to the infirmary flung open, causing all three in the room to jump. Gideon entered, looking at bit panicked. "Jem," he said tensely.

Jem didn't need any more explanation than that. In a blink of an eye he was disappearing out the door, turning down the hallway in the direction of a back way out of the Institute. He had grown up here after all and more than that he had grown up here with Will. He knew how to get out of the London Institute discreetly.

No more than a minute later, Charlotte and Brother Enoch were entering the infirmary. Charlotte sent Gideon a strange look at the sight of him, clearly confused as to why he seemed out of breath. Brother Enoch seemed to take no notice though. He glided right up to the bed and Will looked up at him blearily, clearly exhausted but thankfully awake and aware. His eyes held a spark of life behind them; something Tessa knew without a doubt had been brought about by seeing his former parabatai again. Brother Enoch began checking Will over much like Jem had already done.

_He will live. _Brother Enoch only confirmed what they all already knew. Jem had already given them this news.

"You weren't worried, were you Brother Enoch?" Will asked with a lazy smile.

As usual, Brother Enoch did not appear amused. He silently finished checking Will over before turning and departing without so much as a farewell.

"I do believe he is growing fond of me," Will commented.

"Are we sure he isn't still delirious?" Gideon laughed, giddy with relief just like they all were.

"Delirious with affection," Will shot back even as he blinked sleepily. "I wonder if Brother Enoch is available."

Tessa giggled. "You are married, darling, do not forget," she reminded him. This was her Will though. This was further confirmation that he was going to be just fine.

"Oh, that's right," Will said, looking up at her and smiling. "You do look awfully familiar, love."

"Oh, Will," Charlotte sighed, coming to sit at his bedside, relief on her face. "You had us all scared to death."

"Because of a little scratch?" Will laughed lightly as his eyelids sagged. "I am a bit tired though."

"Rest," Tessa said, running a hand across his forehead. "We will be here for you to insult when you wake."

"Good," Will said with a wry smile as his eyes slowly closed. "Because…" But he never got to finish as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Will had almost died that night. He had been much closer to death than any of them would ever care to admit for a very long time. However it had been something that had brought them together. It was something that had brought Jem home, even just for one night. That night would not be looked back on and remembered as the night they had almost lost Will. It would be looked back on as the day that Jem proved to them that despite everything he was still with them. The day that he proved to them that he was still Will's _parabatai_, even if they were no longer bound by runes.

Forever and always, James Carstairs and William Herondale would be connected. Forever and always they would be parabatai.

_The Angel do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me._


End file.
